 | The poetical works of Samuel Woodworth |  |
116
THE SONS OF COLUMBIA.
The Genius of Freedom, escaped from the flood
Which had deluged the world, and usurped her dominion,
On the glaciers of Switzerland tremblingly stood,
To heaven she looked and extended her pinion;
When over the main
Was wafted the strain,
Which Echo, in raptures, repeated again—
“The sons of Columbia have sworn to be free,
And their arms shall maintain what their voices decree.”
Which had deluged the world, and usurped her dominion,
On the glaciers of Switzerland tremblingly stood,
To heaven she looked and extended her pinion;
When over the main
Was wafted the strain,
Which Echo, in raptures, repeated again—
“The sons of Columbia have sworn to be free,
And their arms shall maintain what their voices decree.”
She heard it, and westward directed her flight,
Till our hills met her view in fair grandeur ascending,
When her temple's effulgence burst full on her sight,
And her sons were the rites of her worship attending.
Her altar was reared,
And while freemen revered,
The anthem was struck, and this chorus she heard—
“The sons of Columbia have sworn to be free,
And their arms shall maintain what their voices decree.”
Till our hills met her view in fair grandeur ascending,
When her temple's effulgence burst full on her sight,
And her sons were the rites of her worship attending.
Her altar was reared,
And while freemen revered,
The anthem was struck, and this chorus she heard—
117
And their arms shall maintain what their voices decree.”
Then here let the temple for ever be found,
Ye priests, who attend, guard the shrine from pollution;
In the midst be the statue of Washington crowned,
With the laurels he won in our grand revolution.
Swell the anthem again
To Liberty's reign,
And this be the chorus to finish the strain—
“The sons of Columbia have sworn to be free,
And their arms shall maintain what their voices decree.”
Ye priests, who attend, guard the shrine from pollution;
In the midst be the statue of Washington crowned,
With the laurels he won in our grand revolution.
Swell the anthem again
To Liberty's reign,
And this be the chorus to finish the strain—
“The sons of Columbia have sworn to be free,
And their arms shall maintain what their voices decree.”
On high soars our eagle, begemmed with the stars,
A dread to our foe, but a dove to our brother;
One talon still clinching the thunder of Mars,
But the olive of peace is held forth in the other.
The world may unite,
With treble our might;
We proffer them peace, but can meet them in fight—
For the sons of Columbia have sworn to be free,
And their arms shall maintain what their voices decree.
A dread to our foe, but a dove to our brother;
One talon still clinching the thunder of Mars,
But the olive of peace is held forth in the other.
The world may unite,
With treble our might;
We proffer them peace, but can meet them in fight—
For the sons of Columbia have sworn to be free,
And their arms shall maintain what their voices decree.
118
Ye heroes who once so impregnable stood
'Gainst Britain's whole prowess, and scorned to bend under,
Once more you are called, by your countryman's blood,
To wreak your revenge and proclaim it in thunder;
Be our banners unfurled,
Our thunderbolts hurled,
And our cannon shall loudly proclaim to the world,
That the sons of Columbia have sworn to be free,
And their arms shall maintain what their voices decree.
'Gainst Britain's whole prowess, and scorned to bend under,
Once more you are called, by your countryman's blood,
To wreak your revenge and proclaim it in thunder;
Be our banners unfurled,
Our thunderbolts hurled,
And our cannon shall loudly proclaim to the world,
That the sons of Columbia have sworn to be free,
And their arms shall maintain what their voices decree.
Can freemen consent that the day which we hold,
To celebrate Liberty's birth in our nation,
Should find us so torpid, insensible, cold,
As to suffer in silence the least degradation?
Yet be it declared,
That Britain has dared
To strike at the fabric which Washington reared;
But the sons of Columbia have sworn to be free,
And their arms shall maintain what their voices decree.
To celebrate Liberty's birth in our nation,
Should find us so torpid, insensible, cold,
As to suffer in silence the least degradation?
Yet be it declared,
That Britain has dared
To strike at the fabric which Washington reared;
But the sons of Columbia have sworn to be free,
And their arms shall maintain what their voices decree.
119
Arise, injured freemen! again grasp the spear,
And hurl on aggressors the vengeance they merit;
The blessing preserve which you value so dear,
The blessing our fathers have bid us inherit.
Indignant arise,
Britain's lion despise,
And swear by the Ruler of earth, sea, and sky,
That the sons of Columbia will ever be free,
And their arms shall maintain what their voices decree!
And hurl on aggressors the vengeance they merit;
The blessing preserve which you value so dear,
The blessing our fathers have bid us inherit.
Indignant arise,
Britain's lion despise,
And swear by the Ruler of earth, sea, and sky,
That the sons of Columbia will ever be free,
And their arms shall maintain what their voices decree!
| The poetical works of Samuel Woodworth | |